Rick Famuyiwa - Fighting For The Arts

Fighting For The Arts

Rick Famuyiwa is part of the Director’s Guild of America and it is his passion to make African Americans a greater, more respected part of the cinema industry. Speaking of the pivotal role directors play in the cinema industry historian Melvin Burke Donalson writes, “Of the many creative people who collaborate on a motion picture, the director is regarded as the pivotal individual who governs the aggregate elements for completing the final film. In contemporary American cinema, the director serves as both the guiding force behind a film’s effective content and box office success. Films, consequently, have been called a director’s medium.” In 2003, Famuyiwa served on a panel of directors for a discussion conducted by the Directors Guild of America African American Steering Committee. In the panel, emerging African American directors Kasi Lemmons and Gary Hardwick joined Rick Famuyiwa as they discussed the challenges and opportunities faced by African American directors in the cinema industry. Reflecting on his own experiences of securing funding and support for his films, Famuyiwa believes that there are still many stereotypes and barriers to break down in the industry in order for African Americans to be accredited the respect they deserve.

There is a need for a paradigm shift in the way African Americans are perceived and portrayed in the cinema industry. Melvin Burke Donalson elaborates on this unsavory reality saying, “Many of the black urban films were in fact shaped by white writers, producers, and directors, often excluding African American filmmakers from the process. But despite the lack of control over depictions of their own people, a few black directors managed to chart out some movies that offered alternative ways of appreciating black culture.” Rick Famuyiwa, a young director of his generation, is actively working to create more opportunities for African Americans and shine the spotlight in their direction. Fellow filmmaker Gary Hardwick elaborates that “even though you have this notion that directors have all this power, it's a different thing to be a black director, and a different thing still to be a first time black director and have everybody assume that there are so many things that you cannot do. They see everything that can and will go wrong." The plight of African American films, directors, actors, screenwriters, and all other parties involved is that they are constantly relegated to a secondary, subpar consideration that is unwarranted and unfair.

A common belief and reality for African American filmmakers like Famuyiwa is that films with a majority black cast and direction often face obstacles in securing funding and support for such projects. Famuyiwa explains that there is a formula to be followed in order for anything to happen for a black director like himself saying, “Make it under $10 million, put this much into marketing, make 25 to 35 million dollars and we'll walk away with a profitable film. And as long as you can deliver scripts that are under $10 million with no effects, that you can shoot in 30 days and get back 'X' amount, I think you can always have a steady stream of a certain kind of film.” That particular, steady stream of film that Famuyiwa refers to is the kind that he and directors with likeminded visions attempt to transcend and instead, hope to inject depth and prompt critical response in the projects they pursue.

Furthermore, Kasi Lemmons, Talk To Me director and colleague of Rick Famuyiwa, explains, “There is a ceiling on what black films can possibly make, because only black people will go see the movie and even if they go to see it twice that only adds up to a certain amount.” While working on The Wood, Famuyiwa experienced difficulties in generating the kind of support he would need to make the film a box office hit. In sum, it was hard for Famuyiwa to have others take him seriously at times. Melvin Burke Donalson writes, “Simply stated, the Hollywood director has traditionally been a white male, and though American narrative films date back to 1903, it wasn’t until the late 1960s that Hollywood allowed a black director to command a major film project. Two complex factors have contributed to this bleak history: (1) the history of the stereotypical screen images of blacks, and (2) the lack of a power base by blacks in the business of filmmaking.” Although the film did recuperate its costs, it did not reap the kinds of financial success that major Hollywood directors often experience. Oftentimes, it is hard enough just to find acceptance for films that feature an African American cast, let alone be directed and written by an African American.

Famuyiwa’s colleague Gary Hardwick continues about the hardships faced by African American filmmakers saying, “The way to get a film made is to take away every reason that they shouldn't make the film. Then they'll say, ‘Damn I have to make it. I'm not scared to make this movie!’ It's a very strange process because they throw up strange roadblocks, ‘What about this? What about that? This could go wrong. That could go wrong!’ You have to allay all of their fears. The process of greenlighting a movie is strange, yet, one day you just have money.” At the end of the day, Famuyiwa and directors like him are struggling against the tide of the mainstream cinema industry. They are struggling to make a name not only for themselves but earn the recognition and respect that is due them for the entire African American community and beyond.